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The signs were there from a young age that my future lay in engineering within the automotive industry. My dad was a tinkerer who was always taking stuff apart and encouraging my two brothers and I to ask questions about the various components and how to put them back together again. He was extremely passionate about cars, and we all couldn’t help but inherit this passion from him too. Combining this love of engineering with my love of chemistry, I decided to study a masters in materials engineering at the University of Manchester.
One of the key reasons I was particularly drawn to this course was its 12-month industry placement during the third year. When applying for this placement, I initially approached traditional materials companies. Then one day I looked up from my desk at the poster above my bed of a McLaren P1 – my favourite car ever – and thought, why not approach McLaren Automotive for a placement? And so I did. There wasn’t a specific opening for a materials engineer but I took a chance and wrote a letter detailing my knowledge of materials and passion for supercars. Five months later I was invited for an interview and was subsequently offered a placement.
Joining McLaren as an intern engineer in 2016 I spent 12 months solving materials-related problems. This experience also inspired an exciting thesis topic around body-panel corrosion, a keen issue for all automotive companies. If I solved this problem during my thesis I asked whether they’d offer me job security upon completion of my degree. They agreed. Needless to say it was a fraught few months while I wrote it.
But hard work pays off. Having graduated, I joined McLaren as a materials engineer and had a materials engineering department created just for me. That was in September 2018 and I’m still implementing the learnings from my thesis into the work I do today.
It was daunting stepping into McLaren as a materials engineer in a brand-new department. I felt like I really had to prove myself, and even more so being a woman. The automotive industry is still predominantly male dominated, and often I was the only woman in the room. It was tough at the start and I thought that to succeed I needed to become a more aggressive, non-emotional and ruthless version of myself. But people soon saw straight through that facade and I learned that I didn’t have to mould to a stereotype and change who I was.
During that time my confidence was also boosted by placing trust in the science. Here I was, this young woman fresh out of university, telling people who have been doing the same thing for many years to now all of a sudden change the materials they were using. But you can’t argue with the science. I made sure that I had the data to prove why certain materials would be a smarter choice. I soon gained their trust.
Winning the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award in 2020 suddenly thrust me into the media. After I was announced the winner I had countless interviews, starting with BBC Radio Surrey at 6am the very next morning. But I love using this platform as an opportunity to get into a young girl’s head, or boy’s, that engineering is an exciting career. As a STEM ambassador for McLaren I also give a lot of talks at schools and I’m increasingly involved in other media activities around STEM, such as being one of McLaren’s judges on the BBC Blue Peter Supercar of the Future children’s design competition.
While I do believe role models are important I always tell young people that they do not need to wait for someone who looks like them before they decide to follow a certain role. If that was the case I would never have started working at McLaren. If there is a company you want to work for, take a chance and reach out. What do you have to lose?
Over the past five years working in the automotive industry I’ve noticed that things are changing for the better in terms of diversity. Products are also getting more diverse. Take electrification, for instance, which requires bringing in different talents above and beyond those more traditional roles. Companies need to diversify their workforce and it’s very exciting to see that change happening. I’m here for it.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.